From 1962 to 1965, the band - Mick, Keith, Charlie, bassist Bill Wyman, and guitarist Brian Jones, who, along with manager-producer Andrew Loog Oldham, was an important driving force in the early days - was, by design, derivative of its musical heroes. Over its six-decade existence, though, the outfit has had several distinct musical periods. We think of the Rolling Stones as a blues-rock band. Was he a trend chaser? Yes, but he often caught worthwhile sounds.) (Mick was also the one who pushed the band toward new sounds and styles. Keith is the constant Mick is the variable. When he doesn’t, there’s not much Keith can do to help. When his singing is engaged and his lyrics have purpose, the results are strong. (Charlie Watts’s drumming is just as consistent.) So what really separates apex Stones from good Stones, and good Stones from bad Stones is Mick Jagger matching Keith’s excellence. Keith Richards knocks out solid melodies and guitar riffs like the rest of us breathe. A great Rolling Stones song, unlike a great Beatles song or a great Led Zeppelin song, is the result of the band’s leaders working at a peak at the same time. The problem with that dynamic is that it diminishes Mick’s contribution. In other words, he’s not cool and Keith is. If Jagger were even to deign to have a drink with a plebe, I suspect it’d entail something like his sipping a Peter Thiel vampire smoothie while peering at you through jeweled binoculars and having a Slovenian model smooth anti-aging unguents into his wrinkles. Keith Richards is the Rolling Stone everyone loves, the one with whom you could imagine sharing a beer. As the following 373 songs attest, it’s been an improbably long, wildly lucrative, bumpy, and very often brilliant rock-and-roll life. Before that though, let’s try and take account of what the Rolling Stones have achieved since they set out from London in 1962. At some point, time is going to do to them what time always does. Guitarist Ronnie Wood, who joined up in 1976, is the youngster at 69. It’d been 11 years since the previous one, and Mick, Keith, and Charlie are north of 70 years old. In all likelihood, the band’s most recent studio album, the all-blues cover effort Blue & Lonesome, is going to be its last. Either characterization, though, is inadequate.
In 2017, it seems equally reasonable to think of the Rolling Stones as rock gods or greedy dinosaurs. That leaves 45 ensuing years of gradually declining cultural relevance and, if we’re being honest, more mediocre music than good, and a seemingly ceaseless parade of product - compilation albums, concert films, live albums, and, recently, the traveling “Exhibitionism” display of band memorabilia. If you’re a fan of the Stones, it’s hard not to always compare them with their glorious 1968 to 1972 peak, when they fully assimilated all their blues, rock-and-roll, R&B, and country influences and turned it into something decadent, dark, ironic, sexy, and wholly their own. That staying power is an incredible achievement, and it also has a distorting effect. Fifty-five years! Founding members Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Charlie Watts have been hitched to each other for far longer than the vast majority of marriages last - longer than a lot of lives last, too. Their longevity is staggering - this band has been around for 55 years. With these 26 songs interspersed with all those well-known songs, you'll get into the true spirit of Christmas, whether you love or hate it.Time doesn’t apply to the Rolling Stones quite like it does to other rock bands. The perfect Christmas has some highs and lows, and a little bit in between. You've got to make sure there's songs for everyone, including those of us who are just plain Grinches about the whole holiday season.
The perfect holiday playlist shouldn't all be upbeat or focused on love. All around, they prove that with the right imagination, you can inject a harder-rocking spirit into Christmas music-mall holiday playlists be damned.
Meanwhile, other rockers have just gotten, well, a little weird with things, whether it’s peak Weird Al taking the piss, the Pretenders getting new wave, or Fall Out Boy shutting down any chance of mistletoe romance. (Sometimes it is better to leave things to Crosby and the other classic crooners, after all.) But from Chuck Berry and Bob Dylan to Bruce Springsteen, guitar gods have successfully livened up the otherwise straight-laced proceedings, or at least given the tunes more personality.
Many rock icons have tried their hand at Christmastime staples, with mixed results. Thankfully, there are plenty of rocking Christmas gems out there that tend to fall under the radar. It's Christmas time, but we all know you can only play so much Bing Crosby and Mariah Carey before you'll go mad.
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